GARY Skidmore believes his side's hopes of picking up their third win of the season on Saturday were killed off by pre-match disruptions.

The Biddestone boss was left with a selection headache after captain Will Edwards (ankle injury) and winger Luke Gullick (illness) pulled out just before kick-off.

Skidmore was already without the services of Andy Wileman (ankle injury) and Mark Jennings, who was on holiday, and admitted the changes were just too much for his team to deal with.

He said: "We had to change our defence around drastically and obviously that had a big effect on the proceedings.

"Their three goals were due to fairly shoddy defending on our behalf and our failure to clear the ball properly seemed to fill them with confidence."

Biddestone's Nigerian striker Joe O'Chuko scored his second goal for the club after good work by Dean Brookman to give his side an early lead.

But the hosts hit back and, after levelling 10 minutes before half-time, cruised to a comfortable win with two second half goals.

Skidmore said: "Because of all the disruption I went there looking to pick up a point and it was a great bonus to take the lead.

"But in the end they were too good for us and we can't argue that they did not deserve the win.

"I have told the lads that despite our lowly league position, we have more than enough to escape relegation.

"Almondsbury have been in the top six all season and despite all the changes we only lost 3-1.

"A lot of teams in this league have been thrashed but we haven't yet and so have to believe we are good enough to hold our own."